Sheltered housing in Valletta

To date one cannot say that older people in Malta have been given much priority in housing terms. Even when the Church speaks out on housing problems they tend to focus on engaged couples who have needs too, of course, but for how long can the state in Malta supply subsidised three-bedroom flats to engaged couples before any children have even arrived and in a society where the one-child family may soon become the norm?

Do we give older people less priority in terms of social housing because they complain less and have suffered more through war and other upheavals and are simply more stoical and make less of a fuss than the rest of us perhaps?

Pensioners, however, have certainly been given great priority in care terms and when one looks at the mushrooming of old people's homes all over the island, both state and privately owned, one sees a clear trend emerging.

Yet, in Malta as all over Europe it is often older people who are the most over-represented in older or substandard housing. Even the ones who are asset rich in terms of the value of their homes do not always have enough cash to repair their homes as they should.

Additionally, the equity relase loans offered by our banks do not cater for low income owners and particularly pensioners.

Many others simply do not choose to repair anyway, perhaps viewing such investment as waste of their money. And that is understandable when one considers how frugal their lives were before the days of a generous welfare state.

The Housing Authority cannot address the care needs of older people but we are starting to address their particular housing problems. Firstly we offer repair grants to those older people who cannot afford to repair their homes.

And now, following our first housing and community care conference last October, we are looking for centrally located and accessible sites in the hearts of our towns and villages to build or convert existing housing into small, easy to manage flatlets for older people.

The first two are in Floriana and Valletta and will be for subsidised rent although we will also look at subsidised flats for sale when we are sure there is a market for such provision (a suggestion from the National Association of Pensioners which we will certainly take up).

There is what is known as category 1 sheltered housing. But what is it?

Basically these are groups of usually one-bedroom flats which are let to older people so that they can live in peace and security in an easily maintained and accessible environment.

Many older people in Malta wait to go into residential care purely because they have a problem which is largely about housing. Their home is too big and inaccessible. They cannot manage their bathroom. Their kitchen is now in an inaccessible part of the house. They feel scared in their own home, particularly if they have a house or a ground floor flat which could easily be broken into.

In category 1 sheltered housing one can also have a responsible tenant who acts as a focal point for the other tenants although not in any way supplying care.

In Valletta we are converting an existing building, a former kerrejja the original residents of which have been moved out and rehoused due to the dangers inside. The outer skin of the building will be maintained and the inside converted into a selection of flats.

The site is ideal, opposite a parish church and, in collaboration with the local council, we are also going to have a small drop-in centre for older people from the community which will also be enjoyed by the residents of these flats.

The project is expensive, not least because it is always more pricey to convert than to build new. Naturally and rightly Mepa insists on us maintaining the outer façade but it would be helpful both to us and to others who wish to assist in the regeneration of Valletta if some of the funds obtained from permits were ploughed back into our historic towns to make these sort of projects more feasible for a socially oriented authority like ours.

And let's be clear. We cannot just privatise Valletta or give it up completely to private incentives and investment. Valletta has an old population but also a high proportion living off pensions, social security or other forms of state benefit.

Indeed, of the 300 applicants for social housing in Valletta only 15 per cent are in any gainful employment.

So when we attack the government and make it all sound so easy to regenerate Valletta let us please bear in mind just how old and how government-dependent very many residents are there.

In fact, almost 40 per cent of the applicants for alternative housing in Valletta are older people, usually just living off their pension and little else.

If it is going to cost us almost Lm200,000 to regenerate a small corner block it is clear that many millions are needed to really make Valletta shine again and to reflect the needs of its older citizens.

This project is a small but much needed start to try to address the housing needs of today and tomorrow's Maltese and Gozitan pensioners.

Ms Micallef Leyson is chairman of the Housing Authority.